Where to begin? The best place would probably be to describe the inception and growth of the Newcastle Direct Sales Team, in the 4 months since we got started. In summary - we began our journey with 8 Sales Execs and me, and we got straight to work on the Utilitywise Agency database. That way, we could ensure all of the customers who were used to being serviced through the TPI had someone different to talk to about extending their current contracts.
Fast forward to July 7th, and we have a new office, 21 Sales Executives, 3 Team Leaders (+ still me) so it’s fair to say recruitment has been one of the primary objectives across the end of Quarter 2! It’s been a whirlwind, to say the least, but the buzz and the excitement in the office ensure that no two days are the same and everyone is motivated and excited about what can be achieved as we continue to learn and grow.
My day starts with a short meeting with my 3 Team leaders, who share a daily forecast and a key KPI summary from the previous day. This gives us the data so we can make informed decisions on in-day focus – coaching strategy, and an understanding of who needs additional support. It also allows us to establish where we are against targets, allowing us to adjust focus if required (e.g. are we issuing enough quotes to market? Are we making enough customer contact/touchpoints? etc.)
Team Leaders then break off into their teams and spend some time relaying the previous day’s performance and daily objectives, as well as sharing market info and best practice so everyone is on message for the day ahead.
Core calling hours commence and the Sales Execs update their sales boards as and when they complete an extension with a customer, giving visibility to the whole team as to how we are performing as well as creating healthy competition across the sales operation.
Amongst that, I am there to support the whole team with tricky sales calls and obtaining the info they may need to be able to get deals over the line – TLs are on hand for ad-hoc support, between delivering coaching and training sessions across the course of the day.
The sales process here is mostly transactional so requires a lot of ‘thinking on your feet’ – as I have said, no two days or even two hours are the same. What we are doing and the way we are doing it is new, working solely from a matrix and outside of the core TGP systems, so another big part of my role is to grow and develop the right processes so that the Sales Executives jobs can be made as easy as possible.
We have a great team in Newcastle – a mixed bag of energy experience, sales experience and life experience. Everyone has embraced and enjoyed (or so they tell me…) the journey so far!
